Chinese skating updates and reports

As for Zhang Kexin, I am sorry to say but I really hope that she does retire. She doesn't seem to enjoy skating at all and I can't recall another skater who would show such a complete lack of projection and performance skills. She doesn't seem happy and it might be for the best to move on to something different.

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The fact that someone has a complete lack of projection and performance skills does not mean that this person does not enjoy skating or competing. The simple truth can be that the person is naturally introverted and never learned how to 'act'. Projecting is like acting or pretending. Some are good at it, some struggle with that. I know a lot of people who look miserable when skating even though they enjoy it.

As for Yan Han, I don't think that Lori Nichol has played to his strengths particularly well when choreographing his programs for this season. I would have preferred to see somebody else work with him (and the Ladies) for a change.

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He needs programs that showcase his flow, not ones that make him do toe steps and shrug.

The fact that someone has a complete lack of projection and performance skills does not mean that this person does not enjoy skating or competing. The simple truth can be that the person is naturally introverted and never learned how to 'act'. Projecting is like acting or pretending. Some are good at it, some struggle with that. I know a lot of people who look miserable when skating even though they enjoy it.

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Agree.

Anyone remember when Fumie Suguri and Shizuka Arakawa first entered seniors? They could not be more stone-faced.

Suguri ended up becoming one of the most expressive and musical skaters (though declined in recent years), and Arakawa really opened up in terms of projection.

On an unrelated note, I think Chengjiang Li was totally hosed in his competitive days.

He had the most spectacular 4T and 4S (with correct entries) and was years ahead of his compatriots Guo and Zhang in terms of presentation. He seems to have a good rapport with his skaters and I hope he does well coaching.

Kexin 'looked' she was not enjoying skating because she is shy to express her personality on ice. Besides, I think she's been struggling in these two seasons. Reading the posts above she's had conflicts with Mingzhu Li. And also she had difficulties to maintain quality of her jumps because of her puberty and disease. She focused on her technical elements and it made her face blank. I kind of hope she'll stick around at least one more season. Her situation will be changed since Li's gone. It can go either way, better or worse. Well, one can only hope...

Kexin 'looked' she was not enjoying skating because she is shy to express her personality on ice. Besides, I think she's been struggling in these two seasons. Reading the posts above she's had conflicts with Mingzhu Li. And also she had difficulties to maintain quality of her jumps because of her puberty and disease. She focused on her technical elements and it made her face blank. I kind of hope she'll stick around at least one more season. Her situation will be changed since Li's gone. It can go either way, better or worse. Well, one can only hope...

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She upped her jumping content to Lipnitskaya level (7 triples, 1 3/3, 1 2/3 and 2 2axels) this past season and she had looked very focused on the jumps all season. Perhaps if she finally becomes comfortable with her jumps and programs, she can shine a little more.

Or maybe it is cultural and therefore much harder to overcome than for Europeans and Americans. Chinese pairs were like that in the past too.

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It's most likely also cultural, considering Chinese culture is much less individualistic and being humble is seen as important. Those two things must make it much harder to convincingly embody the EVERYBODY LOOK AT ME NOW! persona on the ice.

Whilst you're less likely to see a Chinese skater showing the 'charismatic showman' kind of performance, the Chinese Pairs and Chen Lu have proven that you can develop a different kind of performance ability, one that is softer and more romantic, yet still quite elegant and refined.

The problem with Zhang Kexin is that she hasn't really been going anywhere in that regard. I guess that between puberty and the difficult relationship with her coach, the conditions weren't exactly optimal. So maybe I shouldn't be writing her off just yet.

Thanks for summarizing the values of over 2 billion people. What is the source of your vast knowledge, anyway? The Good Earth?

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I was obviously speaking in general terms, because yes different people are different and whenever you study people and cultures you can only operate with various degrees of certainty and it can never be absolute.

It is pretty common knowledge that Chinese culture is collectivist and it has been widely described in scientific literature.

Traditional Chinese culture places great importance on humility and arguably amongst the world civilizations the Chinese were the first to promote humility. In one of the most ancient Chinese texts Classic of History, the Book of History reports [4], put complacency and humility at the level of heaven.

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It goes on, giving more referenced examples.

So next time perhaps spend 5 minutes on Google before attempting to mock someone.

You are right. I was thinking about Sui/Han when writing that sentence and I shouldn't have said 'lone exception' because those two have definitely shown 'a spark' and a lot of attack in some of their performances.

Lately, however, I feel that this part of their performances has been getting lost and they haven't been living up to the promise they've initially shown. I hope they can get their mojo back because they definitely have the capability to be great performers.

I agree that Chinese society is more about collectivism and humility--that said, I don't necessarily agree that humility affects performance. For instace, many Chinese students I know are rather humble about their Math achievements but that does not affect how they perform Math. I know skating is a sport and is different; I do think some of the acting/sexy posing/etc may be a little uncomfortable for some, though I do think Chinese have no trouble with moving with elegance and performing with confidence (like Chinese gymnasts, for instance).
I guess, what I'm saying is, humility does not necessarily translate into "inwardness", for lack of a better expression.

eta: I do think it's possible that modesty is an issue, though I really haven't studied this enough to say that with certainty

Success in academia is quite different from projecting on stage or in an arena. Many Chinese ballerinas I've seen are technically wonderful, but have needed to be coaxed out of their shells over time, and I've learned to be patient.

To be fair, the S&Z and P&T of late 1990s and early 2000s were quite different from those from 2003-4ish onwards. Pairs was China's #1 priority and these pairs only got to improve because they had decent results from late 1990s onwards and therefore resources to justify hiring external advisors. With Han Yan's success, I think men will be #2 ahead of ladies now.

In the recent 20 years when Chinese skating became more popular / competitive, we have seen about 1 or 2 skaters out there who can naturally perform. I guess in a weaker nation, the more important factor is getting the jumps done because that's how you make it out of Nationals. This was almost the exclusive focus at the expense of spins, stroking and of course, musicality, finesse and choreography.

To me Kexing's shyness is more individual matter than cultural. She seems to be on the shy side even off ice. On the other hand, Zijun or Yan are not. Especially Yan on weibo is very entertaining. I think in more desirable situations she could have been more expressive. Wish she'll know she has international fans including me. But if she feels happy to retire, I never blame her. I just wish her the best.

I think it's definitely possible to overcome Confucius modesty and become expressive in performing arts. An immediate example would be the Japanese skaters: look at how much star quality there is - and this is a people who may be an even more reserved culturally than the Chinese as a whole. There have also been plenty of outstanding Chinese actors / actresses who are not afraid of the stage and are able to be expressive and perform. I think the problem with the Chinese skaters in the past was that they didn't yet see figure skating as a performing art form, but just merely a sport. The idea and need to express have never been drilled into them when it comes to skating. In the selection process (whatever it may be), they have not been encouraging "performance" so much as "athleticism".
But I think this is definitely changing.

Skaters are selected by the state system for their athletic qualities, just as Chinese ballet dancers are chosen for their technique. There's no self-selection like in most Western skating or ballet training, aside from full-time, integrated-with-academia schools like the Vaganova Academy or Royal Danish Ballet School, where they start serious training as early as eight and selection is done by the school. They are not selected for their performance ability. If they have it, great, but that's a bonus, and if they don't, they can only try to develop it.

Ballerina Darci Kistler, who was cast as Odette in Balanchine's "Swan Lake, Act II" at 15 as a student and within two season of joining NYCB, said Balanchine told her, "Don't look at your partner. You're not in love with your partner." She said she thought (paraphrase) "WTF? Isn't love the point of that Pas de Deux?" She realized that Balanchine told her this because she didn't have the experience to make it real; at that point the best she could have done is an imitation, when he wanted her to be herself, and that was the gift he gave her. (There's a rudimentary video of her school performance, and from the excerpts of it shown in the "Dancing for Mr. B" video, she was ravishing.) Skaters have that luxury if they work with choreographers that give them material that doesn't put them in "fake it" territory, but most of the time, there's an expectation that they project in one of a few narrow ways.

Ilinykh could make a lot look real from and early age, but Russia, with a parallel performing tradition, would encourage a skater with performance quality. I don't think it's coincidental that Dance has been the weakest discipline for China: there's little reward for pure athleticism, which can make a Pairs team jump up in the ranks early. Kexin Zhang might not be competitive with Asada or Kostner because of lack of expression, but she was still close to being seeded based on athleticism.

Certainly the trauma of the Cultural Revolution for decades after the duration itself, when practice of Western arts was illegal -- and skating performance is based on Western arts -- and the era of Mao suits, where being tiffed was considered subversive, mostly has been mitigated, although their are often remnants of frightened and repressive behavior that get perpetuated, even without being conscious of their origin.

Judging by seeing photos on Weibo(Chinese Twitter) posted by Cheng Peng and Han Yan, Team China is in Canada now. I assume they are there to work with Lori Nichol like they did last spring. I recognized Han Yan, Nan Song, Zijun Li, Peng/ Zhang, Sui/Han, Yu/Jin and Wang/Wang. Hope Kexin was in the bathroom when they took group photos.

I wonder what hand Mingzhu Li had in modifying her students' choreography. I wonder without her around, whether the programs would end up looking better or worse... I would imagine that Chenjiang Li probably would be more hands-off in terms of the actual choreography. I wish the Chinese skaters could stay longer to train in Canada. It'd be amazing if they could train for a while with Brian Orser. I feel like he could really help them gain better basic skating skills as well as more polish in general. Of course, having more of Lori Nichol would help too, but I imagine she's very busy right now with the new programs for everyone.

It's rumored (from twitter) that David Wilson will also choreograph for the Chinese team. Han Yan, Zijun and P/Z will have two programs from Lori, Nan Song will have one from Lori and another from David, the rest 3 pairs (S/H,Y/J and W/W) will all have both SP and LP choreographed by David.